I think people are mixing up the constant hum of Cubs games on WGN every summer with people actually buying tickets to the games.
I think we give those driving this bus too much credit if we think they know where it’s going. My take is most are driven by short-term profits/getting that “next deal” done. Then they are seen as someone who is able to drive valuations higher, they get more money, and the overall product (and society in general) are left worse off. Kind of like most of the rest of corporate America.
NCAA vs Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma in 1984 changed everything. NCAA used to control the TV contracts. OU sued and the court decided the media rights belonged to the schools. At that point it was all about maximizing TV revenue for your school and we get to where we are today.
There were a lot of independents in CFB at one time - Penn State was the main one we remember, but Florida State, Pitt, Boston College, of course Notre Dame …
Speaking of Bobby Bonilla, we just passed his “day.” The Mets still pay him $1.19 million every July 1 as part of his deferred salary deal, and will keep doing that every year until 2035.
TV caused that. They joined or created conferences in order to negotiate TV deals. Notre Dame was the only one big enough to negotiate their own. The Big East was a basketball conference with three football playing members and they threw together a football conference to protect those schools. A few years down the road, CUSA was another thrown together conference.
I think Georgia was part of that court case as well. Had the NCAA won, I believe there would be more regulation, meaning tv dollars would eventually go to the schools, but all P5 NCAA schools would get the same tv revenue, just like the NFL. In other words, Washington State gets the same amount as Ohio State. That would have kept regional conferences and regional rivalries (IMO the lifeblood of college football) in tact.
The other one was Houston joining the SWC in 1976.
Before the mid-80s the NCAA really restricted TV appearances. The only way to catch the game was on radio or in the stands. Oklahoma sued the NCAAand won, and more and more games were on TV. This coincided with the rise of cable and ESPN.
I used to watch lots of college sports but I only watch ISU games now. The traditions, and rivalries is what made it exciting because let’s be honest the quality of play is pretty low. No reason for me to watch Baylor vs West Virginia or UCF vs BYU.
Heard that on the news the other day. Supposedly he's got that at 8% interest. That was some good negotiating on his part.
That overlaps a little with my timeline of following college sports, so to me UH "always was a member of SWC." I'm not sure how/why Southwest decided to add Houston (maybe you can expound?).
Not sure what the full story is with that. It’s Texas so I’m guessing there’s a political angle somewhere.
Some change is fine. In fact, a lot of it is good. Conferences west of the Mississippi being destroyed is not a good change.
